Merry Christmas!

Hope your day was wonderful!

P.S. Remember - I'm only posting here for a few more days...go over and follow the other blog if you want to keep up with all the happenings around here.

We're Back!!

Thanks to those of you who have kindly reminded me that I haven't blogged since August.

I appreciate that you missed me. Only problem was, I didn't have a lot to say.

Or time to write once I had something to say.

Or time to find pictures to help illustrate the things I wanted to say.

And then, I wanted to be chronological about the things I wanted to say, and that was far too overwhelming.

So, today, we will start where we are.

And today, the most exciting thing is that this guy is coming home early from his business trip to sleep in his very own bed.

Not Diggity's bed...

We're pretty excited about that around here. Since we haven't seen each other for a couple of weeks.

And I'm pretending that the coming home early (even a day earlier than the original "coming home early" date) has nothing to do with the total-hormonal-crazy-coming-home-traveling-breakdown that I had yesterday afternoon, combined with the still-recovering-from-the-back-injury-and-I-can't-do-anything-frustration I'm dealing with right now.

But I suspect that it does.

I'm good either way.

Because we've decided - no more long separation trips like this. We all had a lovely time on our trips (G and I to New England, Diggity to California, then Taiwan and China), but this being apart for long periods of time is not for us.

And we've lots to catch up on, so stay tuned...

Finales - SYTYCD and otherwise

I can't really give a full report on tonight's SYTYCD performance finale. I'm currently in Austin, Texas with my family, and we were at dinner for most of the show tonight. I'm trying to download videos from Rickey.org, but the internet here at the hotel is ridiculously slow. So, let me recap a bit:

• I'm glad they kept Billy around a second week, because I loved his dances during the second top 6 performance week.
• Jose was on the show for way too long.
• I still miss Alex, but I'm following him on Twitter (@alexdwong), so that helps a little.
• I love all-star Allison Holker. I like all of the all-stars, but she's my favorite and I'm so glad she's going to be on the tour.
• Cat Deeley has had a pretty good clothing/hair run this season. Only a couple of truly wacky nights.
• I'm glad Mia and Adam are permanent judges. I thought I would miss Mary, but I really don't.
• I am thrilled Adechike was sent home last week. I've been hoping that would happen for a LONG time.
• Such an AWESOME top three! I saw the final number and the recaps, and I really can't wait to watch the whole thing. I hope I get to see the finale tomorrow night.

The end of SYTYCD means the end of the summer. Which usually means I should be getting ready for school. Except, I'm not. Instead of that typical beginning, we have another finale coming up in our family's life. Which is why we're in Austin, Texas. We're moving here next month. I'm excited for a new adventure, but I'm really going to miss New England. I'll try to get through it by blogging some of the things I'm going to miss over the next little while.

We do have one more finale in our family - the finale of G-Man being the youngest in our family. We're having a baby in January. And we get to find out what we are having in just a couple weeks. Can't wait! If you haven't seen the video we sent out as an announcement, click here.

The Beach!

We've discovered something that G-Man loves - the beach.

When our cousins were visiting from China last week, we joined them and some other friends down in Newport, RI at the beach. It was a cold, windy day, but G-Man LOVED the sand. I turned around to check on him, and found this:


He was laying on his tummy in the sand and kept putting his face right in the sand. He was even more dirty about 10 minutes after this was taken. We spent a little time in the water, but he was mostly interested in the sand.

We were able to go to the beach again today with some friends, and it was a perfect beach day. (You may have heard, we've had a bit of a heat wave around here. If you've never visited the Northeast and don't think that heat in the 90s doesn't sound like any big thing, well...you're mistaken. I used to wonder why huge snow storms and heat waves always made the national news, and then I moved here. People die when it gets this hot because of the humidity. We've been really grateful for our central A/C this week. In fact, we don't leave the house unless we absolutely have to.) And this time, we made it to the water. He still loved the sand, but we spent a ton of time in the water. G-Man was even brave enough to let go of my hand a couple of times as we "jumped" on the waves.


(thanks for the picture, Allison!)

We had such a great time. Though, I was annoyed to arrive home and find that I didn't do a good job with my sunscreen. Ouch.

Happy Birthday!

I love you my brother! Hope you have a wonderful day!

A Tribute

Many of you out there have met my wonderful car, Miguel. His full name is Miguel Manuel Santa Fe. (We had a naming contest among my friends when I purchased him. We wanted a name that fit his personality and heritage as a Santa Fe. *grin*) My first car purchase as an adult, he and I have had many wonderful adventures together. Road trips, daily rides to school, driving members of the 2002 Savior of the World cast to the Conference Center...I'm quite attached to him.

As you might imagine, when Diggity suggested at the beginning of this year (after another large repair bill from Miguel's yearly inspection) that we should replace him, I balked. I was not keen to replace him. I did not want a car payment. I was fine, thank you. I may have refused to discuss the matter whenever Diggity brought it up.

Then, President Obama announced the CARS program.

And we found out that Miguel qualified as a "clunker." (Don't worry. I didn't tell Miguel. I didn't want to hurt his feelings with a label like that.)

And then we found out the CARS program was ending soon. So we looked. And we found a new car. And the new car arrived a couple of days ago, and today was the day we had to turn Miguel in so he could be crushed into sheet metal.

Poor Miguel.

I took a few pictures of Miguel in our driveway before we took him to the dealership this afternoon.

I told G-Man we were taking mommy's car bye-bye and bringing home a new one, and he gave Miguel a hug. Awwwww...

We brought home a Subaru Forester. My family drove Subarus until we got a minivan when I was in junior high. I like them, and I'm pretty excited. I was sad to see Miguel go, but I must admit, when the salesman was showing me the car (Auxiliary plug for my iPod! Functioning lighter plugs so I can actually charge my phone! A mute button for the stereo ON my steering wheel! And MORE!), I got more and more excited to have a new car.

Here's our new car (no name yet):

Thanks, honey. I'm glad you insisted. And you even found a way to get me the seat warmers. I love you.

Any name suggestions?

Bikes

Grammy showed him how to honk the horn on the tricycle.



I'm not sure what he thought this would accomplish, but it sure was cute.



And then a "crazy bike ride" with Grandpa Toad.



Basically a perfect evening in Utah.

Pre-Wedding BBQ

We had the chance to get together with Darren's family the night before Darren & Amanda got married. Aunt Bev was kind enough to host us. It was great to have everyone in the same place and have a chance to relax before the big day.

It was such a hot day - I think G-Man drank 10 bottles of water and kept asking for more.



Chris holds court with his posse:


Ike cools off and models Grandpa Toad's sunglasses:


Our lovely chef:


Shots of the crowd eating and Amanda & Darren greeting:



The kids had a great time playing:


We ended the evening the right way - with a delicious dessert Amanda requested from her grandma. This was Amanda's portion:


We had a great time and it was a wonderful way to kick off the weekend. Stay tuned for more pictures!

Scenes from the Wedding Rehearsal

Plus one from the wedding day:

More to come!

Cherry Blossoms!

I'm sure they've all blown away by now, but we were lucky enough to go see the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin with Emily and the boys. I was hoping to get some portraits of all the boys while we were there, but it was so cold and windy, we just took some pictures with the beautiful blossoms.

Poor little G-Man was in a coat that was a little too puffy and a little too tight. I snapped this shot with my iPhone. I giggled every time I looked at the poor little guy.


We had such an awesome walk, in spite of the chilly weather. The flowers were so beautiful and I was just thrilled to finally see the cherry blossoms. Even better, the chilly wind blew a lot of the clouds away and we got a totally different view of the flowers and the Tidal Basin as we walked back to the car.

Craziest memory of the day - we parked at Arlington Cemetery and walked over the river to get to the Tidal Basin. On the way to the Tidal Basin, the wind was at our backs. But on the way back, it was whipping right in our faces. And the boys' faces. Between the cars on the bridge and the wind, we could barely hear them or each other. We'd stop to ask if they were okay and they'd cry/whine even harder. We just decided to trudge on. We were going to eat some sandwiches Emily had packed when we got back to the car, but instead we just stopped under a pine tree right by the busy street and ate lunch. And I got to see G-Man eat a sandwich for the first time. Again, I thought it was hilarious and took a picture with my phone.


I took a lot of pictures when we were at the Tidal Basin, but as we were sitting at a stoplight, I had to take just one more.



But I like this one better.



Sorry to double post again, but there are more photos here on the photography blog and here in one of my SmugMug galleries.

He Likes to Climb.

Luckily, he only dares go this high with help from Diggity.

Yes, he has a huge bump on his forehead and his cheeks are really red. The bump is from a run in with an older kid in nursery and the cheeks are red because he gets really red cheeks when he's tired and hasn't had a nap. I used to be able to get him to sleep before we left for church, but no more. So, red cheeks every Sunday.

He also likes to run everywhere he goes and he's started yelling a lot more.

Birthday Recap

He had great fun with all the balloons...

...but wasn't so sure about the Elmo hats.

He thought the cake was cool at first...

...but then not so much.

One thing's for sure...

...we are definitely going to MISS these guys!

He's Two!

Two years ago today, I was laying in a hospital bed waiting for this little guy to show up. I can't believe it was two years ago. I don't remember much of the details of that day, other than being grateful and overwhelmed and thrilled that he was finally here. To say it's flown by would be an understatement. He's a delight and a blessing to have in our home. He's such a happy little boy and he brightens our days.

I don't want to stop him from growing up - it's too fun to watch him learn and grow. But I wouldn't mind if the whole process slowed down just a little bit. It's just happening way too fast.

Have a happy birthday buddy. I love you!
Mommy

P.S. Happy birthday to G-Man's cousin and birthday buddy, Baby Alice! We love you, Alice!